


One Man for the Galaxy

by yellowbound



Series: One Man for the Galaxy [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-15 04:29:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9219086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbound/pseuds/yellowbound
Summary: Jyn wakes up in a medical bay following her escape from Scarif to be greeted by Leia. They have a lot to talk about.





	1. Chapter 1

Jyn opened her eyes with a deep breath. “How are you feeling, Jyn Erso?” the medical droid asked.

Jyn opened her mouth, then closed it. Words. Remember how to form words. “I… I’m- okay.” Well. That was something.

“Would you like to try sitting up?”

Would she? She didn’t see any reason not to. “Okay.”

“When you are ready.”

Jyn waited longer than she thought she did before hoisting herself into a sitting position. Her heart rate responded to the change, but only momentarily. She looked around at the med bay, then at the medical droid. She had never seen one like it. “What make and model are you?” she asked.

Before the droid could respond, the door opened. A compact woman walked into the room. “Jyn Erso,” she said, not unkindly, “I am Leia Organa. Do you remember me?”

Jyn nodded. Leia. She was the daughter of Senator Bail Organa, both father and daughter were vital parts of the Rebellion. She had never meet her before, but she had heard of her.

“I am sorry I am not in better shape to greet you,” Jyn heard herself saying.

“That’s alright. You just woke up. How are you?”

Jyn’s mind snapped fully awake all at once. Her body became rigid in response, and the medical droid started making warning noises. “How’s Cassian?” Jyn demanded. Her voice sounded harsh in her own ears, but she-

“He’s okay,” Leia responded, raising a hand placatingly. “He’s not awake yet but he should be up soon.”

Breathe, Jyn. “Did you get the death star plans?”

“We got them,” Leia responded, softly but firmly.

“There’s a flaw built into the system-”

“We destroyed it.”

Jyn closed her eyes, swallowed and sighed with relief.

After several moments passed, Jyn felt Leia lay her hand on her arm. “Jyn,” Leia said gently, “Thank you.”

Jyn opened her eyes to look at Leia. She didn’t really want to be thanked, but the way Leia said it made the gratitude palatable. “How many others made it back?”

“You and Captain Andor are the only ones we’ve found.”

Again, Jyn closed her eyes, this time in pain. She wasn’t surprised by the answer, but it still hurt. “I want to see Cassian.”

“I’ll take you to him.”

The medical droid protested, but relented when Leia said he could come along.

Jyn’s face softened when she spotted Cassian, lying as she had been on a med bed, his own medical droid hovering nearby, busy.

Jyn took his hand in hers, not taking his eyes from his face. He looked so different from when she had seen him last. Strain and exhaustion had etched deep lines in his face. 

Sedated and relaxed, he looked quite a bit younger. At peace.

“Jyn.” She jumped slightly at the gentle call. When she tore her eyes away from Cassian to look at Leia, Leia replied, “You are welcome to stay with him, but your medical droid would appreciate it if you ate something. I would be happy to eat with you, if you’ll have me. I can tell you about the destruction of the death star, and I’d like to hear how you managed to steal the plans and end up where you did, if you wish to tell me.”

Jyn smiled and nodded. “Yeah, thank you.”

Over what Jyn realized was somewhat better food than standard military rations, Leia told her about finding her brother and the destruction of the death star. Jyn got the impression that Leia was leaving quite a bit unsaid, but there were probably things she couldn’t tell Jyn, or didn’t want to tell Jyn at the moment.

Jyn had no idea what to make of the revelation of the involvement of Jedi - she thought that was a dead order, their legacy shrouded in unbelievable myths. But Leia did not seem to have such doubts about the Force - she reminded Jyn of Chirrut. Jyn found herself wishing the two could have known one another.

Leia’s story ended, and it was Jyn’s turn.

Jyn told her of their plan, of the distraction the small rebel force had provided while she and Cassian and K2SO went after the Death Star schematics. For reasons Jyn didn’t fully understand, she found herself explaining to Leia how Cassian had fallen after being shot, how she had thought he was dead.

Leia watched her in silent sympathy.

She had no way of telling Leia how she felt seeing Cassian again, after he had shot the Imperial officer, so she didn’t try.

Getting the injured Cassian to safety had been no small task, especially since the only ship left to them was hardly in better shape than he was. But a fraction of a chance was better than no chance at all. While the damaged cruiser had dumped them on a fringe planet in winter with no chance of getting off without help, at least they had been dumped on a fringe planet in winter with a chance of being rescued eventually.

It was a few days into their stay on X-gee that Jyn had realized their best chance lay in waiting out the winter in stasis. She needed time to devote to fixing the cruiser, but Cassian’s injuries were so severe that not only was he unable to help her, she found that the majority of her time was taken up with worrying over him. The cruiser’s info files told her the planet had other seasons far more hospitable, with a chance of finding resources. And calling for help.

The cruiser had surprisingly advanced medical facilities, most of which were damaged, but somehow not the stasis tanks. Not really trusting the cruiser’s damaged systems to last four months, Jyn had used the kyber crystal her mother had given her as a backup power source.

She had put Cassian to sleep first, the two of them staring at one another through the glass as she turned the unit on, silently promising each other they would both wake up. If K2SO had been with them he would’ve informed them how bad their odds were, but Jyn had never known anyone like Cassian, who had refused to give up on her regardless of how badly he was hurt. He had made it this far. She would make sure he kept going.

The last thing she remembered seeing was ice, before waking up in Leia’s protection. Jyn glanced around again, her eyes lighting on the unfamiliar droid model, the panels and readouts that were both familiar and somehow slightly off.

She looked back down to Cassian before returning her attention to Leia. “How did you find us?”

Leia smiled. “I sent two of my scouts to explore X-gee for resources the fleet could use. They found you.”

“What shape were we in?”

“I think you could’ve remained in stasis for a lot longer than you were with no harm done.” That was a very diplomatic answer.

“I programmed the system to wake us after four months,” Jyn said.

“Ah,” said Leia.

Jyn studied Leia uneasily. While she had never seen Leia before, Jyn didn’t think that Leia was as old as the woman who had spent the last few hours speaking with her was. Jyn didn’t have any reason to doubt Leia’s identity, not after the story about how she had gotten the Death Star files. But the uneasy feeling was steadily getting worse. She glanced again about the room, but it didn’t offer anything to quiet her growing sense of unease. At least Cassian had made it, too. 

Not really wanting to think about it, but knowing she needed the answer anyway, Jyn finally asked, “How long were we in stasis for?” If the timing mechanism had failed, maybe it had taken eight months, maybe a year-

“Thirty-four years.”

Jyn had absolutely no idea what to do with that information.

Besides her, Cassian opened his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassian is always there to greet Jyn when she gets back from a mission.

He was always there waiting for her when she got back from a mission. 

He had not been cleared by medical as quickly as she had. There was nothing physically wrong with him, but twenty years of fighting for the rebellion had enacted a mental toll that needed time to heal. Add to that the fact that the Rebel Alliance and Empire were no more, and had been replaced by a Resistance that had just destroyed the latest version of Jyn’s father’s weapon, and Cassian needed time before he could adequately contribute in high-stress situations. Here, then, was evidence of how different the Resistance was from the Rebel Alliance: they had the knowledge and resources to identify and treat problems that extended beyond the physical. 

Jyn was tagged with abandonment issues (normal for Resistance fighters) but she had already lost nearly everything before waking up, and she had kept the one person she had left. Soon she was headed out on reconnaissance missions with Finn and Poe Dameron, the ex-stormtrooper and pilot who had found her and Cassian. The two of them had essentially adopted the rebels, helping them integrate into their new reality. Leia had made it clear to Jyn and Cassian that they were under no obligation to stay, but the Resistance offered some semblance of familiarity for Cassian, including people like Leia he had known during the Rebellion. They weren’t going anywhere.

In the meantime, Cassian was assigned to Leia, overseeing all the information that came into the Resistance from their sources all over the galaxy. When Jyn left on missions, she could always look forward to seeing his lovely face immediately upon return, the worry and tension melting away once she stepped out of whatever mode of transport was deemed appropriate for the current mission.

Of course, his worry wasn’t always immediately banished by her appearance. Once, she stepped off the transport with a green substance, part slime, part plant, wrapped around not only her body but her gear. Cassian, alarmed and unable to greet her as he was used to, asked, “Are you alright?”

She sighed. “I’m fine. It’s getta.”

Immediately, Cassian’s look of worry faded, and he started to look amused.

“It really isn’t funny,” said Finn, similarly covered and coming to stand next to Jyn, examining himself sourly as another vine curled around his leg. Getta was an edible plant that procreated by fire-bombing passers-by with quickly-growing fronds. It would be awfully useful for the Resistance’s cultivation unit to have, only the young growths had to be treated carefully, preventing Jyn and Finn from just cutting it off.

“I was the one attacked - you didn’t have to immediately start trying to brush it off me,” Jyn told him.

“Yeah, but I was concerned it was something dangerous.”

“If it had been dangerous, getting it all over yourself would not have helped matters. Given your desire to save people even from harmless plants, you must’ve made a terrible stormtrooper.”

Finn smiled and nodded. “I did.” 

Poe appeared, unmarked by green growth. “How did you manage to avoid this?” asked Cassian.

“He was flying the plane,” Poe’s compatriots declared together bitterly.

They were interrupted by a zap and sizzle from inside the ship. “Stop that!” admonished Poe, but not particularly harshly. He quickly retraced his steps. Cassian peered over Jyn to see BB-8 completely covered in getta, unable to move. He felt sorry for the droid, but it was all pretty funny, and he started to laugh softly. “We need the plant alive,” Poe told his mechanical soothingly. “I’ll go get a cart so we can take you to the cultivation unit. Hang in there.”

Poe moved away with Finn to fulfill his mission while BB-8 complained bitterly about Jyn and Finn having enough getta for the Resistance, there was no need to save what was on him. They also made some sarcastic comments directed towards Cassian about his amusement, but silently BB-8 thought it was nice to see him laughing for a change, and thought that maybe getting covered in getta wasn’t so bad anymore.

Cassian took Jyn’s hand, which had remained free of the vine-like plant’s growth, and raised her fingers to his lips, looking up at her as he did so.

Jyn was caught between annoyance and an entirely different feeling. She couldn’t always - or ever, really - handle when he did things like this, they were so foreign to her experience prior to meeting him. His adorable hotness didn’t help anything, either, and she was covered with green slime, preventing her from responding as she wished.

Straightening up from the kiss, Cassian covered her hand with his other one. “Let’s go get you cleaned up,” he said, smiling down at her.

Jyn smiled back, and went with him out of the hanger.

*

Sometimes, she brought him gifts.

Admittedly, it wasn’t an original idea. Finn had stopped at a shop, examining some of the parts for display. Confused, Jyn had turned to Poe for an explanation. “He’s seeing if there’s something Rey might like. He picks up things for her here and there.”

Oh. Jyn had heard all about Rey, almost entirely from Finn. Some from BB-8, translated by Poe. She knew Finn missed her, but she didn’t realize he had been collecting things to give to her.

Jyn watched the ex-Stormtrooper as she thought of her ex-Rebel Alliance intelligence officer. Cassian was forever scrounging up various interesting bits from the ship to show her. Sometimes it was an old weapon he had located and thought she might find interesting, sometimes a delicacy he had found who-knows-where. One time he had even presented her with a kyber crystal necklace, to replace her mother’s gift that she had used to keep them alive. He had refused to say where he had gotten it, but Jyn suspected he had help from some of his old Rebellion friends, probably including Wedge Antilles. Cassian might be confined to Leia’s flagship, but Jyn bet he knew it better than anyone on board by this point. He seemed determined to examine every last circuit. To familiarize himself with his surroundings.

Jyn walked up next to Finn, to look over the offerings. It hadn’t occurred to her to bring something back for Cassian. Quite frankly, she was still getting used to the idea that she had someone to bring anything back to.

A beep from behind her caused her to stop frowning at the display and instead turn around, frowning at BB-8, who was holding an object out to her.

Jyn took it and examined it more closely, a small smile playing on her face as she did so. “Thanks, BB-8. I think he’d like this.”

After getting back to the ship, where Cassian was waiting for her in is usual spot, Jyn decided to wait until they were back in their room before she handed Cassian his gift.

“What’s this?” he asked, as she placed the wrapped package in his lap.

“It’s for you. Open it,” Jyn said. She was trying to hide her nervousness. This had seemed like a great idea back on the outpost - now, she wasn’t so sure.

Cassian gently unwrapped the gift. She watched him go very still, as he did when he was overwhelmed, while he looked at the present Jyn had presented to him. Jyn was growing concerned, he wasn’t moving or saying anything. Maybe it had been wrong to bring this to him.

“Where did you find this?” He asked, so quietly she would’ve missed what he said had she not been so intently focused on him.

“A dealer on the base we stopped at was selling it. BB-8 found it. I-” Jyn swallowed. “I thought you might like it.”

Cassian used the controls to zoom in on the holoimage of Yavin IV. Not only did it show the moon, it also allowed the viewer to move through what once was the Rebel Alliance home base.

He looked up at her. He quite clearly was struggling with whatever it was he was feeling, but he returned her gaze steadily. “Thank you,” he managed, reaching for her hand.

Jyn stuck to less intense gifts after that.

*

One time when the doors to the transport opened, Cassian was waiting as usual, only no one stepped off.

He tried not to panic - they had not mentioned there were any casualties, though they were coming in quite a bit later than originally expected. Walking into the the ship Cassian noticed movement in the cockpit. “We’re okay, just exhausted,” Poe called, as BB-8 beeped in agreement. “I’m only awake because BB-8 shocked me into consciousness so I could land the ship.” The droid added that they had tried waking Poe in various less unpleasant ways but nothing had been successful.

Looking around the hold Cassian found Jyn and Finn leaning against one another, sound asleep, still covered in their gear. “Go ahead,” he told Poe, “I’ll look after them.” BB-8 kept up a string of chatter to help keep Poe on his feet as he moved out of the transport.

Before waking them up, Cassian removed as much gear as he could. Neither one of them moved throughout this process.

He had quite the difficulty getting them moving and on their feet, half-wishing BB-8 would appear to shock them awake, but he finally managed to deposit them in more comfortable sleeping arrangements.

Jyn awoke quite a bit later sleeping next to Cassian, while he sat reading the latest intelligence reports. His hand rested lightly in her hair. “Hi,” he grinned down at her, noticing she was awake.

“Hi,” she breathed back happily. The last thing she remembered clearly was leaning against Finn in utter exhaustion on her way back from the mission. Cassian must’ve had a hell of a time getting her back to their room.

As if reading her thoughts, he said, “I don’t think you weigh enough.” She pinched him. “Ouch,” he said, grabbing her hand.

Jyn sat up, but only so she could wrap her arms around Cassian, who pulled her close, the intelligence reports forgotten. Kissing her head, he said, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

She gave him a squeeze. “Me, too.” She was ready for him to be cleared to go with her, she really didn’t like leaving him behind to worry like he did.

Determined to make up for the fact that she wasn’t awake to receive his greeting upon her return, her lips found his, and it was awhile before either one thought of anything else.

*

He was always there waiting for her when she got back from a mission.

Until one time he wasn’t.

Jyn stepped off the transport and spotted the general waiting for her. Jyn had no idea until that moment that it was possible to be horrified to see Leia Organa.

“He was captured by bounty hunters,” Leia said, speaking quickly before Jyn could imagine worse. “They came for me, but Cassian wouldn’t let them take me. They settled for him instead.”

“Why?” That was Finn - Jyn hadn’t noticed him come up next to her. “Cassian doesn’t have a price on his head.”

“Any decent bounty hunter could find someone to take him. Make some money so their effort isn’t totally wasted,” Leia responded.

Jyn had little desire to continue talking about why, the only thing that mattered was getting him back. “What’s being done to recover him?”

“We’ve sent out scouts to locate the bounty hunter’s base, and dig up any information we can on them. We’ll find him, Jyn.”

Jyn nodded. Leia sounded so sure. She turned to Poe. Without her having to say anything, he moved back up the ramp of the ship he had just landed. They weren’t staying here for long.

They were going to get Cassian. They were going to bring him home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who commented/left kudos on the first chapter, I hope you enjoy the latest installment!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jyn and friends launch a rescue mission for Cassian.

They followed Cassian’s trail as he was sold from one bounty hunter to another. They were always just a step too late.

The final bounty hunter sold him to the New Order. Once the Order had realized he was of value to the Resistance, they did everything they could to get their hands on him before Jyn did. Locating where he was being kept had been no easy task, and getting into the system proved even harder.

Two scouting units had left, and they had lost contact with both of them immediately upon their entry into the system.

Jyn, out of patience and unable to deal with her relentless concern, was preparing to head out herself when Leia pulled her aside.

“BB-8 has the map to my brother.” Jyn just stared at Leia, not quite able to grasp what Leia was saying. “Take Finn and Poe and ask my brother for help,” Leia clarified. “He might not, but Rey definitely will.”

By “might not” Jyn knew Leia meant “no chance in the dark side” but Jyn was going to ask anyway. Maybe they could even kidnap Skywalker and force him to help. Kind of like the Rebel Alliance did to her, what felt like a lifetime ago.

Jyn thanked Leia and left. Leia knew she would either see Jyn and Cassian together, or she would never see them again.

*

Leia provided the map to her brother; Chewbacca provided the Millennium Falcon to use as transport. Chewie had wanted to go with them, but he hadn’t left Leia’s side since Han died, and didn’t feel it was appropriate to now. 

Jyn didn’t have much to do on the journey out besides worry. Poe and Finn had sent her to get some sleep, but she didn’t like sleeping without Cassian by her side, so she lay in the bunk staring at the wall.

BB-8 beeped at her. She didn’t speak their language, but she was pretty sure she knew what they were saying. Sure enough, when she rolled away from the wall, there was BB-8, holding a sedative patch out to her.

She took it with thanks. After eyeing her silently until she put on the patch, the droid beeped encouragingly at her and rolled away.

She closed her eyes. She remembered what someone had rather unwisely said to General Organa: _Some people can’t be saved._ To which Leia had responded: _only because not enough people put in the effort to do so._

*

Rey would never admit to anyone how much she had dreamed of this: a delighted Finn, showing up on Luke Skywalker’s island retreat, rushing to greet her. She would never tell anyone, but she suspected Finn knew.

She knew Skywalker knew.

She had felt Finn getting closer - she had known he was coming for her. That knowledge had filled her with more delight than she knew what to do with.

Jyn turned away from Rey and Finn’s reunion. It hit too close to home. She and Cassian didn’t greet one another with the same open, unreserved enthusiasm, but the joy in their every reunion was the same.

“How is your training?” Finn asked her, finally pulling away slightly to look her over as Jyn, Poe and BB-8 approach at a more reasonable pace.

Rey’s face fell slightly. “Well…”

“I refused to train her,” said Skywalker. They heard his voice before he rounded a rock outcropping, R2-D2 following closely.

Jyn, Poe and Finn all start speaking at once. “Are you okay?” Finn, to Rey. “What? Why not?” Jyn, to Luke. “What’s going on?” Poe, to everyone in general. Beeping droids added to the general confusion.

Luke held up his hand as Rey assured Finn she was okay. “The Jedi training that I am familiar with has an unfortunate habit of producing Sith Lords,” said Luke. “I felt it best to no longer pass on that training. Rey has been training herself.”

They all looked at Rey. She had been disappointed when Luke had refused to train her, but such disappointment was hardly new in her life. At least he had offered her a safe place to engage in her training. Rey had taught herself to fix whatever mechanicals she had come across, to pilot whatever transportation presented itself. She could do the same with the force.

Feeling their uncertainty and concern, Rey stepped a little distance away from the group and closed her eyes. Slowly she began to raise dirt particles from the ground. The soil here appeared black, rich with nutrients. She sent the dirt moving in a circular pattern around everyone, and began to group various particles according to color. Red, orange, various shades of brown, even white patterns appeared in the swirling dirt.

Jyn stood, utterly transfixed. She had never seen anything like it. She didn’t know entirely what a Jedi was supposed to be able to do - most of the stories she had heard involved fighting and killing. The beautiful show, somewhat like a moving sunset, was not something she had even thought a Jedi would do. She found herself wishing Cassian could see it. He would like it as much as she did.

 _Cassian._ All at once, the brief sense of wonder and peace she had felt during Rey’s display vanished. Rey, sensing her unease, allowed the soil to fall back to the ground, as if nothing at all extraordinary had just taken place.

Rey and Jyn stood regarding one another. Finn realized introductions were in order, and briefly explained who Jyn was and how he and Poe had found her. Rey in turn introduced everyone to Skywalker, who was looking at Jyn with an intensity Rey had never seen from him before. Here was Jyn Erso, the daughter of Galen Erso, the man who had built the Death Star.

Here was Jyn Erso, who made sure the Rebel Alliance knew about the fatal flaw her father had built into the Death Star, allowing Luke the chance to destroy it.

Jyn returned his gaze. “We need your help. A good friend of ours, Cassian Andor, is being held by the New Order. We know where he is, but we’ve been unable to get any information on what the New Order is doing in the system. We’ll be going in blind - your support would be invaluable.” Jyn wasn’t used to giving speeches like this, and she didn’t really know what to say to Skywalker to get him to say yes.

Rey nodded. “Of course I’ll be happy to help.” The words came out in a rush. This planet was far nicer than the desert one she had lived on for so long, but it was somehow even more lonely.

Everyone turned to look at Luke.

“It is no longer my place to meddle in galactic events.” He seemed very tired.

Jyn narrowed her eyes. What sort of bullshit was this? “I’m not asking you to do that,” she said.

“You don’t know that for sure,” said Luke.

“I want you to help save one person.”

“Who’s being held by the New Order.”

“I don’t care if he was being held by Ewoks, I’d still ask for your help if we were having trouble getting to him.”

“I left because I’m part of the problem. I know the danger the New Order poses - I helped create it.” Not on purpose, but Luke didn’t think that mattered. “Which is why I’m not the person you’re looking for. If I’m not leaving to save the galaxy I’m certainly not leaving to save one man.”

Jyn channeled her rising anger into her words. “If my father had thought like you, there’d be no New Order. But there’d still be an Empire.”

Luke shook his head. “The galaxy will not be improved with my meddling in it,” he said again.

Jyn was done. “I don’t care. I’m not asking you to save the galaxy, I’m asking you to help save one person. If you won’t, you won’t, and we shouldn’t be wasting any more time here.” She turned and moved back onto the Falcon.

Everyone else followed her in. An oddly silent R2-D2 slowly, forlornly, made their way to the ship. Luke let out a small, quiet sigh. His sister certainly knew what she was doing, sending Jyn Erso to get him. But then, she always did.

“Don’t worry, R2,” he called. “I’m coming.”

*

“So what’s the plan?” Luke asked once they were underway.

An uneasy silence. “I thought that we should jump in near the system, but not actually in it, since the previous attempts were unsuccessful,” said Poe.

“And then we can observe the system to figure out why they didn’t come back,” added Finn.

“And then?”

“That’s as far as we’ve gotten.”

Luke was neither surprised nor worried about this relatively flimsy plan. After all, he knew how badly well-thought-out ones could go.

Everyone crowded into the cockpit for coming out of hyperspace. There were more pilots than sets - Luke and Rey had ended up at the controls. 

The first thing that got their attention was how noisy the system was. Countless short-range signals were bouncing around continuously. They were effectively blanketing the system, making an undetected entry impossible.

Luke frowned. “Whatever they are, they are very, very small.”

“What are they guarding in there?” wondered Poe.

 _Cassian,_ Jyn thought. She must have thought it really loudly, because the two Jedi turned to look at her.

She knew, of course, that all of this wasn’t for Cassian, but she didn’t care what it was for. Some horrible thing the New Order was developing. And Cassian was caught in the middle.

Jyn sighed. That was normal.

They decided to mimic the signals coming from one of the orbs, to get closer to the spaceport where Cassian was being held. They hid beneath an inbound ship and snuck into a decommissioned hanger, serving to shield them from the New Order until they completed their mission.

It was decided that Rey and a medical droid no one realized Finn had stowed on board would go get Cassian. Jyn wanted to go but the fewer people Rey had to shield from detection the better. The droid wasn’t a person and was one of the newer models, so it wouldn’t be out of place on a New Order base, even in a detention facility. When asked why he had brought the droid, Finn refused to elaborate, beyond saying it was a precaution.

Meanwhile, Jyn, Finn and Poe would rig one of the destroyers being built at the spaceport to blow up, providing them necessary cover as needed. R2-D2 and BB-8 would patch into the base’s system, to access information for the others as needed. Luke would stay to guard the Falcon and the droids.

“May the Force be with you,” Luke said, as they all dispersed to their various tasks.

*

Rey slowly dropped to her knees besides Cassian’s bunk. He was in horrible shape. His arms and legs were broken, as well as bones in his hands and feet. He was being pumped full of chemicals that prevented him from healing. Whoever was in charge here wanted to make sure Cassian could not walk out of his cell. The one small mercy is that he was sedated, so he wasn’t in a lot of pain. A feeding tube snaked down his throat. His captors didn’t want him to die, either. As she had suspected, he was here to trap anyone who came for him.

“Are you hurt?” the medical droid, ME-8, asked, catching Rey unaware. She startled and realized the droid had asked that because she was crying.

“I’m okay,” she said, wiping her tears away. She got to work hooking up a device that would mimic Cassian’s vital signs, so those monitoring him would not realize anything had changed, while ME-8 started clearing the toxins out of his system.

Task completed, she turned her attention back to Cassian.

“I need to wake him up,” Rey said to ME-8.

“That is unwise given his present condition,” the medical droid responded.

“I know. But I need to talk to him. Keep him on painkillers so he doesn’t get too uncomfortable.” Rey didn’t feel comfortable invading Cassian’s body without his permission. She remembered Kylo Ren doing it to her too vividly.

Cassian soon stirred next to her, as ME-8 reduced the sedatives. “Cassian,” Rey spoke gently. He opened his eyes a fraction to look at her. “I’m Rey.”

It took him several moments to process what she had said, that she was here. Rey waited patiently, feeling him slowly wake up.

His eyes got brighter when he realized who she was. “Hi, Rey.” The words were barely audible.

“This is ME-85791,” she said, glancing towards the medical droid. “We’re here to fix you up.”

“You can call me ME-8,” the droid said helpfully.

Cassian frowned slightly. He was still too sedated to do more. “I don’t think you can fix me.” He knew he needed a bacta tank, days of healing. He was being kept like this so he couldn’t walk out of the detention unit.

“I might be able to, but I need your permission to try,” Rey said.

“What do you have in mind?”

Rey showed him by gently knitting the bones back together in his hand. They were small, so it didn’t take long, but it was delicate work. She felt Cassian’s reactions: unease, curiosity, amazement. He even went so far as to help her, feeling along the bones with her as she worked. Rey had only ever healed herself, never another person. This was a new experience. A lot less lonely. And also faster.

When she was done she opened her eyes to look at him, gently holding his healed hand in hers. He nodded briefly his assent. Rey got to work.

*

Somehow, everyone managed to avoid the notice of the spaceport personnel long enough to begin to make their way back to the Millennium Falcon. Jyn had been assured that while Cassian had been hurt, Rey and the medical droid had helped him, and he was in much better shape.

Jyn still wasn’t entirely prepared to see him, however - he was pale and somehow thinner than normal, but he was walking, and he threw himself at Jyn once he spotted her.

ME-8 protested this unnecessary exertion exhibited by their patient, but was quickly hushed by everyone else, who were determined to give Jyn and Cassian a little privacy by watching the hallways for approaching hostiles.

Breaking away from the kiss, Cassian and Jyn pulled back grinning at one another. “Hey,” said Cassian.

“Hey,” answered Jyn.

“You came to get me.” Cassian sounded so delighted he was almost laughing.

Jyn cocked her head slightly. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”

Cassian gave a brief shake of his head. “I knew you would.”

He kissed her again, before breaking away to greet Poe and Finn, both of whom expressed their delight at seeing him again.

Rey hung back, watching the reunion, happy for everyone involved.

Finn turned to her, to beckon her over. Rey started moving towards him, but was arrested in mid-stride as though being hit with a blaster charge.

Rey’s eyes got huge as she froze in terror. “What’s wrong?!?” asked Finn.

“He’s here.”

Finn knew exactly who she was talking about, but his fellow Resistance fighters did not. “Who’s here?” asked Cassian.

“Kylo Ren.” Alarms went off as the words escaped Rey’s mouth. If Ren was here, then he knew they were here - and he would set everyone on the spaceport looking for them.

Almost immediately, they ran into armed guards who didn’t hesitate to shoot at them. They got split up - Cassian and Jyn headed one direction, Rey, Poe, Finn and ME-8 another. The two rebels didn’t pay much attention to where they were going, they just did their best to avoid the suddenly on-alert base personal. They ended up trapped between two busy corridors. Fortunately, there were several doors leading off of it. Cassian stood guard while Jyn worked at opening one of them. Successful, she hastily pulled him in after her, slamming the door shut. She pulled him close, leaning her forehead against his cheek, as they panted, trying to regain their breath. “I’m okay,” Cassian said, as much in response to their latest situation as a statement of his general well-being. “You okay?”

Jyn nodded. “Yeah.”

After a moment: “Jedi, huh?”

Jyn smiled. “Yeah.”

He pulled back to look at her. “What is here?”

“What?”

“What is the New Order building?”

“I- I don’t know.” Jyn was frowning in confusion.

“And they came to find out?”

“Who?”

“The Jedi.”

Oh. Jyn shook her head. “No, we just came to get you.”

Silence, as they stared intently at one another. Their breathing had slowed to a more even rate. “Thank you.”

Jyn would’ve kissed him if they hadn’t been interrupted by the comm. “Jyn, Cassian, where are you?” Poe asked.

Cassian raised the comm to his lips. “We’re… figuring that out,” he said, as he and Jyn begin to look around, reluctantly letting one another go.

“It looks like a storage unit,” Jyn said, checking out some nearby panels.

The room was pretty small, covered in panels, with two doors: the one they had entered, and another on the far wall. Cassian went to open it. His eyes got wide as the door swung open. “Jyn,” he called.

She looked out at the huge room before them, her heart rate picking up again.

“We found a data storage vault,” Cassian radioed to his rescuers and friends. “We’re going to look around, see if we can’t find something about what the New Order is up to here.” Jyn was already accessing the files.

“Okay,” responded Poe. “Finn and I have gone back to the cruiser, the Order’s deactivated some of the charges we planted. Rey’s gone to help Luke and get the Falcon. Try to get to a port where they can pick you up once you’ve looked around.”

“Understood,” Cassian replied.

*

His uncle and old master stood waiting for him in front of his father’s ship. “I see you’ve finally been compelled to leave your coward’s hideaway,” Kylo Ren sneered.

Luke didn’t respond. It hadn’t been cowardice that kept Luke from intervening. Ben knew this.

“You don’t think I’m worth it,” Ren growled, activating his lightsaber. Luke did the same. “My parents wanted to try to save me, but you think too many people will die in the effort.” Ren advanced upon Luke as he spoke. “Like my father. I killed him.”

“I know,” Luke responded. He raised his lightsaber to par Ren’s first blow. Luke had not fought in years, while Ren was fighting constantly, be it everything from Rey to traitors to display consoles that angered him.

Despite Luke’s rustiness he was strong enough in the force to counter Ren’s blows. Everything came rushing back so easily, Luke was surprised. Ren was becoming angrier. “I will not make my grandfather’s mistakes!” he bellowed at Luke, pressing for an advantage.

“You already have,” Luke responded, somewhat tiredly and very annoyed. Drawing the correct conclusions from a given set of information had never been Ben’s strongest attribute. Ren began to use the force to throw loose objects at Luke. Luke also had to block Ren from using R2-D2 and BB-8 in such a way.

“I will finish what he started!” Ren screamed, as he ripped paneling from the wall, throwing it at his master, forcing Luke to defend himself from the lightsaber blows as well as the debris Ren kept flinging his way.

“He did finish what he started!” For the love of the force, how did Ben not get that? Anakin Skywalker had completed his life’s work. Just because Ben didn’t like the way he did it, didn’t make it any less true.

“You are weak! You never should have let saving that rebel scum distract you from destroying the star killers.”

Ren realized his mistake immediately, from Luke’s reaction. Ren had been keeping Andor here to provide a distraction for whomever showed up to try and sabotage the New Order’s latest project. He knew they’d be unwilling to leave a colleague, making their success that much more unlikely. But his uncle had come here only for Andor - he had no idea about the star killers. The ships were designed to work in groups to detonate stars, thereby wiping out entire systems. They were an upgrade on the planet-destroying death stars in another way as well: there wasn’t just one of them, making them far less vulnerable to sabotage.

Several things happened very quickly after Ren’s revelation. During the loud, obvious lightsaber battle, Luke and Ren were involved in a much more subtle war over Luke’s comm link. Luke was trying to keep it open, so his companions were aware of what was going on. Ren was trying to keep it off, to prevent Luke from receiving or giving help. Luke had managed to have his comm link on for the exchange, meaning Jyn and Cassian in the spaceport vault heard it. However, Luke thinking about that gave them away to Ren, who immediately ordered his troops toward the area.

*

“Leave it!” shrieked Rey over the com, panicked.

“But we don’t-” begin Cassian, unwilling to leave his task unfinished, especially when they finally knew what they were looking for.

“It doesn’t matter!” Finn, this time. “We’ll think of something else! Run!”

“ _Get out of there!_ ” roared Poe.

Jyn grabbed Cassian and pulled him away from the console. She was giving herself flashbacks to all the times he had done the same for her. "Leave it," she ordered. He listened.

*

Luke saw Ren unhook something from his belt and throw it at the Falcon. Too late, Luke realized what Ren’s goal was, other than killing him: destroying their means of escape. _I will not make my grandfather’s mistakes._

Luke tried to remove the grenade from the Falcon, but Ren prevented him, and Luke didn’t have any more effort to give, between defending himself from Ren’s lightsaber blows, the debris, and making sure Ren couldn’t hurt the droids. “Move towards the bay door!” Luke screamed at them. Both droids flew across the metal bay floor as the Millennium Falcon exploded behind them.

Ren got a great deal of satisfaction from watching the Falcon explode. He had long wanted to do that. His anger at his uncle was only increasing - how dare he come here for a nobody, when he wouldn’t even try to rescue his nephew! Sure it was a rescue Ren didn’t want, but being dismissed in favor of a worthless rebel only enraged him.

His uncle was tiring. The destruction of the Falcon had sent a wave of grief running through Luke. Sensing an opportunity, Ren reached for R2-D2, his triumph building-

-Only to be blocked by someone else.

Rey appeared at the bay door, lightsaber already in hand.

Luke saw his chance.

*

R2-D2 and BB-8 raced along the corridors, avoiding stormtroopers as best they could while following the comm signal to Poe. The droids had been directed to head to him by Rey, and while they were worried about their friends, they both had seen enough of lightsaber fighting to not wish to be involved in any additional exchanges.

R2-D2 mourned the loss of the Falcon, while hoping that was the only loss they would be mourning.

*

Cassian and Jyn, following the same signal as the two droids, soon came upon them, and they were quickly reunited with the others. However, they found any path forward blocked by the activity on the base.

Their only option would take them back to the cruiser set to detonate. “Maybe we can find an escape pod,” Finn said hopefully, as they all looked at one another.

“Finn!” Rey’s frantic voice came through the comm.

“Rey! Where are you?”

“Luke and I are heading your way,” she responded. “Everyone okay?”

“We’re all here, however we have no means of escape. We were thinking of going back to the cruiser and finding an escape pod.”

“We’ll meet you there!”

Everyone got moving.

*

Alarms sounded and lights flashed as the first, larger group entered the empty cruiser, which they now knew to be a star killer. Unable to stop the detonation sequence, the New Order had evacuated the ship. The engineers building it where more valuable than the uncompleted cruiser. R2-D2 and BB-8 both immediately tapped into the cruiser’s circuits, looking for a means of escape.

“ME-8,” Cassian said to the idle medical droid, “Can you hook into the system and see if there’s any information on the cruiser’s construction?”

“I am not programmed for such a request,” the droid responded, somewhat despondently.

“That’s okay,” said Cassian reassuringly. “I’ll walk you through it.”

Jyn watched as Cassian helped the medical droid hook into the system and look for battlecruiser schematics. She had missed him so much. This was her Cassian - always looking for some way to help.

“I’m sorry,” ME-8 said, “I do not see anything like what you are looking for.”

“Thank you for looking,” Cassian answered. Meanwhile, R2-D2 and BB-8 both beeped that their attempts had been futile.

They all stood looking at one another.

Cassian, realizing they were standing on a ship that could fly, and also was itself a source of information, volunteered, “What if we just steal the cruiser?”

“The cruiser that’s about to explode?” asked Finn in disbelief.

“Can you stop the detonation?” asked Cassian.

“We didn’t rig it to be turned off!” Finn said in exasperation, but he was already trying to figure out how to do just that.

“We set the explosion to run along the main power grid. If we isolate the ignition source, we might be left with enough of a ship to steal,” said Poe.

“Turn the ship off,” said Jyn. Everyone looked at her, the suggestion was crazy. Turning all the power off would leave them without life support. “I did this once when I was working with Saw Gerrera. We were on a ship and needed to stop a power meltdown. It was a harrowing few minutes, but it worked.”

At this moment, Rey and Luke showed up, the later dragging an unconscious Kylo Ren, none too carefully.

“We’re going to steal the cruiser,” Finn announced into the silence. He felt someone needed to say something.

Luke nodded, smiling. “Good idea.” He turned to ME-8. “He needs to be kept unconscious so he doesn’t kill everyone.”

ME-8, grateful for a request they could handle, responded, “It is within my programming to perform that request.”

Luke and Rey had shown up just as the cruiser was being pushed away from the spaceport, so it wouldn’t take the whole thing with it when it blew. While Luke and the medical droid prevented Kylo Ren from causing any disturbance, the others raced around, first shutting the whole system down. They heard the explosion, muffled, deep within the ship, and prayed it wouldn’t spread. After a few minutes the shaking and shuddering subsided, and the ship was quiet as no ship should ever be. They turned it back on and breathed a sigh of relief as the ship came to life around them. They raced quickly to activate the hyperspace drive, and get the hell out of New Order space.

*

When Leia read the report that they were coming back, she had to sit down. She hadn’t had such a shock since Han died.

She had thought Jyn might be able to pry her brother out of his self-imposed isolation. She had thought they would be able to save Cassian.

She had not expected them to find the New Order’s new galaxy-conquering endeavor. Or to bring it back.

She had not expected them to bring back her son.

*

In an observatory on General Organa’s flagship, Cassian sat with his back leaning against the wall, Jyn leaning her back against his chest, his arms around her, as they watched Resistance ships swarm around the cruiser they had brought back.

It had been a hectic few days. Most of them had sustained injuries that needed attention, necessitating time in med bays and bacta tanks. Kylo Ren was still sedated, as the Resistance worked out what to do with him. Luke was all for taking him back to his island retreat, but Leia wasn’t so sure about the idea. Resistance engineers had started to pull apart the cruiser, working to figure out how it was designed to destroy stars. And finally, Cassian had been cleared to go on missions again. “I guess they figured since you didn’t melt down while on a ship about to explode being chased by half the New Order, you could handle a supply run,” Jyn had teased him. That had only made Cassian smile wider.

Cassian let his eyes wander over the important work taking place in front of him, content with Jyn in his arms. “Thank you,” Cassian breathed quietly into her hair.

“You’ve already thanked me,” she said. Repeatedly and in many ways, she didn’t add.

“I know,” he said.

“I never would’ve left you.”

“That’s why I’m thanking you.”

Jyn shifted her focus off the swarming ships in the distance, finding Cassian’s reflection in the glass. She smiled at him. He smiled back.

Her fingers gently rubbed his arm where she was holding him. “Welcome home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I was making the sequel to The Force Awakens, this would be it. This is also an answer to everyone from Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy to my own mother, who wondered how any members of Rogue One could’ve survived, seeing as they weren’t in subsequent movies. THIS IS HOW, MOM. (and it's only one example)
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's left kudos and comments! I hope you've enjoyed the adventure. I am gretamaya on tumblr, come say hi! Also people have asked if I am continuing this, I have some ideas but I am always open to prompts so if there's something you'd like to see let me know.


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